Born in Edo into a family of shogunate retainers.
He studied navigation and more at the Nagasaki Naval Training Center.
He went to the Netherlands as a shogunate student to study warships.
He returned aboard the Dutch-built warship Kaiyō Maru and later became vice-commander of the shogunate navy.
After Edo Castle was surrendered, he led the fleet to Ezo and made the Goryōkaku at Hakodate his base.
He surrendered to government forces and was imprisoned, but Kuroda Kiyotaka and others saved his life.
Pardoned, he took up work on the development of Hokkaido.
As minister to Russia he concluded the treaty exchanging Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands.
He became Minister of Communications and later served as Education Minister, Foreign Minister and more.
He died in Tokyo.
Kuroda KiyotakaHijikata ToshizōŌtori KeisukeTanabe Sakurō
Fukuzawa YukichiIwasaki YatarōMaejima HisokaMatsukata MasayoshiGodai TomoatsuInoue KaoruItagaki TaisukeTani Tateki
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.